Dehab's Ultra Sustainable Farm in Kaffa, Ethiopia

I was impressed with the emphasis on sustaining community and mother

Dehab on her farm.

earth that Dehab has invested in her large coffee farm in the Kaffa zone of Ethiopia. In this blog, I'll share few things, as I suspect most readers share a love of our mother earth and things that are healthy and life-giving. 

The coffee trees on Dehab's farm are growing under giant, old-growth rainforest trees in way that can only be described as magical to foreigners like us arriving from urban, agro-chemical territories. Her land is in the buffer zone of the UNESCO protected Kaffa Biosphere. Walking through the farm you feel like you're in the movie Avatar, only all the low-growth is coffee! 

Coffee growing under old growth trees.

Dehab has developed a modern honey/ bee-keeping farm which has multiple objectives: bees help the organic growth of the coffee trees. Honey is a good second income-earner for Dehab's business. She uses the honey-farm to teach bee-keeping to men and women, because she knows that the women will be allowed to do the bee-keeping business by themselves, because it is something they can do close to the home. Earning money from honey will mean that the woman has to spend less time cutting down trees to make charcoal to sell for money, which will help save the forest. Regenerative agriculture at its best, I think!

While we were walking through the farm, one of Dehab's friends, Dr. Mitzi, who

is a remarkable, well-educated, well-traveled woman with long experience with the United Nations. Dr. Mitzi is also an herbologist, and she was showing us the herbs that are growing among the groundcover plants and telling us the medicinal properties. 

Then, when the entire group (about 30-35 people) was together in the center of the farm (approximately), Dr. Mitzi had us all be still for 2 minutes of silence to listen to the earth and the sounds of the forest. For those who wanted to join, she demonstrated some yoga poses. We were silent and hear the sounds of the forest.

Pause to hear the forest.

After that, we hiked to the top of a nearby hill and Dehab pointed out an area of about 30 ha. that she does not farm so that the animals and plants are all natural there. It's like a forest reserve within the reserve. You could hear the moisture dripping, see the moss hanging from ancient branches and we happened to be there on a beautiful sunny day. Magical!

To top it off, at the end of the hiking, we enjoyed the entire Ethiopian coffee ceremony, (starting with roasting the green beans), live and close-up, while we ate lunch at the offices of the farm.

In the midst of a rainforest.

Molesh Demisse lead the coffee ceremony.

Mighty Good Ethiopian Natural from Dehab's Diamond

Nov. 28, 2022

David Myers (right) at CRG retreat.

Mighty Good Coffee has been roasting up some of Ann Arbor's finest coffee since 2006 when David Myers and his friend, Jim Levinsohn, started the business. They offer beans from select farms, mills and co-ops, which they visit when they can. They roast in small batches on their Loring, and package quickly to preserve freshness. They're coffee is mighty good, we're sure you'll agree, but you'll also love their business philosophy. David and his partners try to combine family traditions, artisanal craft processes, local community and fantastic coffee. 

The business philosophy led Mighty Good to become one of the first customers of our Dehab's Diamond, Ethiopian natural coffee in 2021. It was Artisan's first year to import from Ethiopia and it was Dehab's first year to export to the USA! Her company had only exported to Europe in the past. David knew his customers love Ethiopian coffee, so it was a reasonable bet to think this one, from another Ann Arbor small business, would gain a fan base.

We're happy to see that so far, it seems to be working out that way. With the recent arrival of the 2022 season coffee, Mighty Good is one of handful of roasters who have purchased Dehab's Diamond Ethiopian Natural two years in a row now. We're mighty glad to see this coffee becoming an Ann Arbor favorite thanks to David and his team!

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Dehab first started learning about coffee in 2021 and found she loved it! She truly enjoys developing the farm and the quality of her coffee. Today she continues as a an example of how more and more Ethiopian women are leading coffee businesses, whether it's producing, exporting or roasting in-country for Ethiopia's large domestic demand for coffee. Dehab is not a roaster, but her company, Diamond PLC, is a producer and exporter.

Her story in coffee starts when the farm was purchased in 1999 and Dehab’s husband and his friend started the business. She stayed out of it at first. But after 12 years years, when Dehab’s children were older, she took over the friend’s role and bought his shares. Now the farm is 27% and 73% owned between Dehab and her husband.

Dehab fell in love with the farm, farming and coffee. In every home in Ethiopia, the first meal is coffee. She remembers boiling the coffee for her mother. To get up to speed on agronomy, she employed a business consultant and an agronomist and spent two years “learning coffee.” In 2014 she started managing the company. In 2015, she started exporting to Germany. Since 2021, Artisan Coffee Imports is proud to be counted among her partners.  

Tommy - ready to roast on the Loring

Fresh roasted Dehab's Diamond

Packaged beans, brewed cup, ready to go!